Alivecor, Inc. v. Apple, Inc.

Background

Apple filed an opposed administrative motion to close the December 8, 2023 hearing. The hearing was scheduled to address the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment, motions concerning expert testimony, and related filings. The court stated that nearly all of those materials were sealed at least in part and that the parties had represented that they contained confidential information.

AliveCor and Apple had filed consolidated motions seeking to seal thousands of pages. The court had granted and denied portions of those motions and later granted the remaining sealing requests after receiving clarifications. The court found that the materials contained confidential business information whose disclosure could harm the parties’ competitive standing.

Analysis

The court recognized a presumption that court proceedings and records are open to the public. For a hearing involving dispositive motions—motions that could resolve claims—the party seeking secrecy must show “compelling reasons,” which can include the risk of revealing trade secrets or confidential business information.

The court rejected Apple’s argument that its earlier sealing rulings automatically established the required standard. Those earlier rulings had found “good cause,” which the court said was not enough by itself to seal a dispositive-motion hearing. The court nevertheless agreed that temporarily closing the hearing was necessary to allow a meaningful discussion of Apple’s engineering, development, and testing information. The court had asked the parties to cite evidence that was largely under seal and expected that answering its questions could require discussion of confidential product and business information.

The court also determined that temporary closure appropriately balanced public access because the parties would later have an opportunity to identify portions of the transcript for redaction. The full transcript could become public if no motion to seal was filed or if the court rejected the requested sealing.

Disposition

The court granted Apple’s Administrative Motion to Close the December 8, 2023 Hearing. After oral argument, the transcript was to remain temporarily sealed. Within 21 days after receiving the final transcript, the parties were required to review it and file a motion to seal portions containing potentially sealable information. Seven days after the court ruled on that motion, the parties were required to file a redacted transcript on the docket. This order addressed access to the hearing and transcript; it did not decide the parties’ summary-judgment or related motions.